. . .
He was a yokai.
Since his birth, he was told how he should never get near humans. How he should avoid them, hate them, and kill them on sight.
He was once the sole heir of the yokai leader, the son of the Great Red Wolf. Every yokai looked up to him, be it of admiration, love, or envy.
However, one day he decided to run from his birth-land, wandering aimlessly in the human's world, trying to escape his fate.
He was once known as Akashi.
#
Akashi had walked across the human land for quite some time. His long lifespan seemingly grew even further in there.
He wandered across jungles, mountains, desert, and passing several towns in between. He kept walking and walking until his feet brought him to a lake in a forest.
Akashi stared at his own reflection. He saw a gigantic wolf with red fur and long fangs stared back at him on the water surface.
Sounds from a breaking twig reached his ears. His nose could smell presence of a human nearby.
Akashi looked again to his reflection on the lake. Should he let the human see him? Should he let him pass?
Should he kill him?
Akashi frowned.
If he kill the human, wouldn't it make him no better than his father?
Against his better judgments, Akashi decided to deal with the human with his own way.
He crouched to the ground beside the lake, chanting several ancient rune languages inside his mind. A yokai spell circle appeared beneath his feet. It emanated a bright light that engulfed his body completely.
By the time Akashi opened his eyes, he found himself still in crouching position, and the spell circle slowly faded. However, he didn't see a pair of paws, but arms, and hands. On the lake surface, Akashi no longer saw a wolf reflected there, but rather, an appearance of a young man staring back at him.
"Is anyone there?"
Akashi glanced back in time to see a human showed up from behind the bushes.
The human was a male, and he watched Akashi dumbly. "Wh—... ugh, sorry, were you taking a bath?" he asked with a hint of embarrassment.
Akashi quickly put his arms around his body, trying to cover his newly gained skin. Now that he no longer possessed thick fur, Akashi was very much nude in his current state.
The human was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out as to why the boy in front of him was naked and visibly troubled. It didn't take long before something clicked on his mind and a scowl presented itself on his face.
"Ah, I see," Akashi heard the human murmured, "You were bathing here and somebody stole your clothes, right?"
Akashi almost lifted an eyebrow.
He had to stop himself from muttering yokai language. This human wouldn't understand, and besides, he needed to deter anything that could lead to discover his true identity.
But it seemed the human took his silence in wrong direction.
Sighing, the human took off his haori and walked closer to Akashi, putting the thin cloth on his head. "Are you okay? Can you stand?"
Akashi pulled the haori down and covered himself. He looked up to the human and slowly nodded, trying to stand on his (hind) legs only to crumble down afterward.
"Hey, hey... calm down. Take it easy," the human helped him to stand, slowly and gently, "Anyway, where do you live? I'll escort you home."
Akashi kept quiet. He couldn't possibly tell the human of his home, could he?
"You know, your silence makes me wonder if you're mute. ...Or are you?" The human raised an eyebrow, "What's your name? I'm Nijimura."
Nijimura? "...Akashi."
It felt weird, the way human language stumbled out from his mouth.
To his surprise, Nijimura gave him a wide grin before patting his head. "That's a good name. Nice to meet you, Akashi."
Akashi wondered if he would feel regret if he had killed this human earlier.
#
Akashi told Nijimura that he lived in the forest by himself. Of course, at first the human thought he was joking, but after several failed arguments, Nijimura finally believed him.
"Fine, if that's what you say," Nijimura rolled his eyes in defeat. "Since it's late, I'm going home, now. See you tomorrow, Akashi."
Akashi bid his farewell.
After Nijimura left, Akashi wandered around the lake by himself. Somehow, his meeting with Nijimura felt like he was being chained to this place. He couldn't decide if that was a good or a bad thing.
But he wanted to stay here, a bit longer than usual.
And so, Akashi spent the evening alone, watching the moon reflection on the lake surface. Night breeze felt colder than usual, since he didn't have his fur. His hand grasping the haori Nijimura gave to him tightly.
#
Nijimura showed up the next morning.
"You came." Akashi calmly stated. He hadn't thought the human would come again.
"Of course I do. I've said it yesterday, haven't I? And what's with your clothes? Didn't you go back home last night?" Nijimura grumbled, bewildered that Akashi was still wearing the same haori as yesterday.
"I have no reason to come back."
Akashi's curt reply made Nijimura thought of him being a brat.
"Well, you know that's not the point here! You can't just go around buck naked."
"That is true, yes," Akashi pondered for a moment, "but I couldn't possibly let myself stoop so low as to take other people's garments."
Scratching his head, Nijimura heaved out a sigh. "...ugh, fine. Wait here, I'll come back in a jiff."
Nijimura made his way back to the village, leaving Akashi by himself.
#
Several minutes later, Akashi's ears could hear footsteps approaching his way. He could tell the human wasn't alone this time.
"Nijimura-san." Akashi greeted Nijimura when he came back. There's also another human walked behind him, dressed in more proper manner.
"Put these on, and we'll talk." Nijimura handed Akashi a neatly folded clothes. Coincidentally, it was in the same color as his fur—red and white.
Akashi blinked.
"Nijimura-san, this is..."
"Nijimura-san," the other human—Nijimura's companion, in Akashi's mind—raised his voice, "Aren't those a miko's garments?"
"Yeah, and...?"
"...he's a man."
"Who cares? At least now this guy looks decent and proper looking." Nijimura said with such glee that Akashi couldn't help but glanced at him blankly.
"...Well, if you say so, I don't think there would be any problem." Nijimura's companion sighed.
Of course, being a yokai who spent all his time being a wolf proved out to be a challenge for him to put on clothes.
He heard Nijimura laughing in the background.
#
Unsurprisingly, Akashi did look like a shrine maiden.
A grin appeared on Nijimura's face.
"Oh, yeah. Let me introduce you to this guy beside me," Nijimura calmly pointed his thumb to his companion, "This guy here is Midorima. He often came around this lake searching for bushes. And Midorima, this is Akashi, I met him yesterday."
"They're herbs." Midorima's protest left unheard. He turned to Akashi, "...It's nice to meet you, Akashi.
Akashi accepted Midorima's handshake, and bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect.
"The honor is mine, Midorima."
Akashi felt another chain tied him down.
He wanted to stay a bit longer.
#
Akashi spent his entire life in solitude after leaving his birthplace.
It felt so free, yet somehow a distinct feeling of pain nudged his heart. Was it what he had sought all this time?
Ever since he came to the lake two weeks ago, he found something else other than constantly trying to survive.
Almost every day, Akashi would see Nijimura came, either just to bring him snacks, visiting the lake or just finding a nice place to nap.
Unlike Nijimura, Midorima came by more often to pick up herbs due to his job as a village doctor.
One day, Akashi discovered that not everything inside the young doctor's bag stuffed only with greeneries.
"Midorima, you dropped something."
Midorima stopped examining a red grass and turned to Akashi, who was holding a small wooden piece.
"Ah, thank you. It'd be troublesome for me to lose my lucky item. I owe you one."
Lucky item?
Akashi had heard of several ways in reading prophecies through helps from divine beings. Could it be humans also had their own way to predict any forthcoming events?
"I see," Akashi put a hand to his chin, "Then what is that thing?"
"This is a shogi piece. You use it when you play shogi," Midorima gave him a briefly, "That being said, have you ever played shogi, Akashi?"
Akashi had never been played it, of course. "No. I've only heard of this…game you sometimes play."
Midorima took his bag and tucking away neatly the grasses he'd found, then pulled out a wooden board. "Very well. Come here, I'll teach you."
It was a bit confusing at first, but Akashi quickly took note of its rules and Midorima's advices.
Of course, his intelligence and perceptive skills proved to be more than enough to beat Midorima on their first try, much to the doctor's chagrin.
Thus they'd play shogi every time Midorima had free time simply because the young doctor wanted to defeat Akashi, to no avail.
When Nijimura came, he'd either napping or watching them play shogi, cheering for an unhappy Midorima after Akashi's overwhelming victories.
Somehow the lake had begun to reflect sunshine brighter than usual.
#
One day, they stopped coming over.
Akashi waited days and nights, yet neither Nijimura nor Midorima showed up.
It was so not unexpected—truthfully—but it did make the wolf left to ponder.
"...Perhaps it is time for me to pay a visit to their village in return."
And so he went to their village by following over both men scent.
But the more he got near, the scent slowly mixed with something else far much horrid.
What lay before his eyes were far from what he'd expected.
What he thought of a lively, prosperous village was nothing but heaps of burned woods and stench of blood.
The place was mostly thrashed.
What happened?
What creature could possibly done this?
What happened to Nijimura? …to Midorima?
What... what is...
"Son, it's dangerous to stand still in the open! Go to the shelter place."
Akashi heard a nearby human shouted to him, which his mind almost blocked off. He didn't bother to crane his neck to see him. "Shelter?"
"Go north, and you'll find it."
#
War was something his people had known since birth.
There's always a constant battle in his birthplace, whether to gain higher rank, status, or just mere reputation in such a meritocracy world.
But wasn't humanity lived by egalitarians?
Of equality and co-existence?
Akashi stumbled his way through what remained of the village path. There's blood clot on every wooden walls he passed. It was utterly loathsome, but was it right for him to feel this way? He was never one to even bat an eye upon learning of his own kin's deaths before…
…why?
"Son,"
Akashi turned his gaze to an elderly man who stood beside a doorframe.
"You seem lost in thought. Why don't you come and sit here to rest for a minute?"
Wordlessly, Akashi obeyed him without question. This human smelled like those senators he often saw during his time in the past, like ancient books and parchments.
"What happened here?"
The village elder calmly took another drag of his tobacco. "We were attacked by thieves. We fought, yet their weaponry far surpasses those of our own, and we ended up being the one in defeat."
"…Even Nijimura-san and Midorima, too?"
"Ah, are you perhaps a friend of young Nijimura-kun and the young doctor?" the village elder smiled kindly to ease the frown in Akashi's face, "I trust he's still treating the wounded, to the room in the left. You may enter if you so wish."
Akashi bowed his head in respect, "…My sincerest gratitude for your generosity."
The village elder gave him a kind—yet somehow sad—smile on his lips.
#
"Midorima."
The young doctor abruptly pulled his gaze away from a bottle of remedy he was holding. "Akashi…?"
"Yes. It is indeed me."
A surprised look etched in his face, "Are you okay? Were you got wounded? Come and let me take a look."
Akashi dismissed him with his hand, "You don't have to. I'm fine," he replied, his tone a bit rigid, "Where's Nijimura-san?"
"What?"
"I smell blood coming from your direction. Were you injured, Midorima?"
"Well, I do surgeries here, so that was to be expected."
Akashi frowned. "I am able to distinguish the smell of other humans' blood apart from yours. Answer me, Midorima—were you hurt?"
Midorima was taken aback by Akashi's unusual authority tone more than the fact that he was saying the right thing. "It's… not that important. I've put some bandages so it'll get better over time."
"I see. Then, how about Nijimura-san? Were he hurt as well?"
"…Nijimura-san is… he might be out there somewhere…"
Akashi's sharp ears caught a glimpse of hesitation in Midorima's words. "I can hear you telling lies. Answer me, Midorima. Truthfully."
The young doctor bit his lip, but after a few seconds of consideration, he decided to give Akashi the answer he sought for.
"I'm sorry, Akashi. But, Nijimura-san is... he just passed away."
Something inside the wolf snapped off that instant.
#
. . .